Haven

Chapter Twenty One

Ella came over to my house to borrow clothes and to use my make up, while her new foster parents were absolutely lovely and the nicest she's ever had, she still was a foster kid after all and had nothing of her own. But luckily for her, she had me and luckily for me, I had everything. Literally.

I was applying finishing touches as she rummaged around in my closet, I already picked out my outfit so I didn't care what she took. Just as I was finishing up, she came out in a spaghetti string floral dress I had bought.
"Oh yeah, that's really pretty on you." I tell her, looking at her through the mirror and she's nearly bouncing in excitement.

I opted for a black leather skirt and a Levi t-shirt, paired with a new pair of old skool vans. Now that I had a little more height and some actual curves, I felt pretty cute.

The natural progression from there was of course a photo shoot. The other girls were meeting us at the game so Ella and I decided to get ready kinda early, so we could have said photo shoot and hang out, just us. We both had already decided it was easier for us to keep the nature of our pasts and status in the social care system under wraps, it was easier for me given that I was somewhat secure where I was but not so much for Ella.

It never was a thing; to feel guilty or pity towards one another's situations, but now that my circumstances had changed I did feel sorry for Ella.

"Are you actually gonna have fun tonight Jadey?" Ella basically whines, interrupting my thoughts at a good time before they got too dark.
I smile, rolling my eyes. "If you're asking if I'm going to get myself into trouble, then no." I say, almost too firmly for my own liking.
Now it's Ella turn to roll her eyes. "Come on! Since when do you care what anybody thinks?" She whines, moving from her seat on my bed to stand in front of me. "You're meant to be the badass here!" She reminds and I sigh.

"Alex will kill me if I do something stupid." I admit, looking down at my gels I had gotten done with Madison the week before, picking the skin around them. I stop myself and look up to Ella, meeting her confused eyes. "You don't even understand, it's not worth the trouble, El."

She nods, in an attempt to understand. I know she wants to, but she's accustomed to me being the wild one, and definitely not afraid of getting in trouble or stepping on anybody's toes.
"So we're following the rules then?" She smirks and I shake my head.
"I'm still trying to figure Alex out, and figure out how to get around him." I explain to her. "At the minute he's all over me like a rash, and especially the first time I'm going to a party. So to answer your question, we're following the rules until I can figure out a way not to. Think of it as a smoke screen, he starts to trust me and I get more freedom so we can have fun." I tell her, and that won her over, her beaming back at me.

It wasn't exactly true, but to some degree it was. I did need to gain trust before I could even attempt to do something behind his back. Just look how drinking ended the first time, but it had bad idea written all over it from I start, I blame Ella.

I look back to myself in the mirror, as Ella is engrossed in her phone, and a notification on my own phone tells me she's posting on Instagram.
"Okay come on, I gotta go reel in the quarter back and hottest guy in school!" I jump up, and she laughs.

"He's already hooked. He's all yours once he sees you in that skirt." I smirk at her response, having already posted one of myself posing rather cutely on the gram. Instagram was my safe space, I had my sister but that was it. Alex, Madison had all added my Facebook but I was tame af on there, I tried to keep Instagram as a Jaida space.

The game went well, our team won which was good for me only because I knew Jamie would be in high spirits. Other than that, football was kinda lost on me. Ella had gotten involved in the catty politics of high school, while I desperately steered clear for fear of losing my temper.